Clothes-pin.



No. 870,040. IATENTED NOV. 5, 1907. J. W. LEWIS.

CLOTHES PIN.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 5, 1907.

W1 T/VESSES A ole/v5 1 5 UNITED STATES PATENT orrion;

JOSEPH WESLEY LEWIS, OF DAINGERFIELD, TEXAS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JOSEPH E. PHILLIPS, OF DAINGERFIELD, TEXAS.

CLOTHES-PIN.

Patented Nov. 5, 1907.

Application filed June 5 1907- Serial No. 377,401.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Josnrn WEsLnY LEWIS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Daingerfield, in the county of Morris and State of Texas, have invented a new and useful Clothes-Pin, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in clothes pins and clasps of an analogous character, and it has for. its object to provide an improved device of this character that may be readily applied and removed relatively to the line or other support, that is strong and druable, and that is capable of firmly engaging the articles to be secured thereby, the article engaging devices being so constructed that they may be readily released irom the articles, and being so shaped that they are not liable to become entangled with one another, nor with the articles they are to secure.

To these and other ends, the invention comprises the various novel features of construction and combination and arrangement of parts, which will be hereinafter more fully described and pointed out particularly in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings:Figure 1 is a perspective view of a clothes pin constructed in accordance with the present invention. Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the device shown in Fig.1. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the same.

Corresponding parts in the several figures are indicated throughout by similar characters of reference.

The clothes-pin shown in the present embodiment of the invention comprises, generally, an intermediate line receiving loop 1 and a pair of gripping devices 2 and 3 arranged substantially in alinement and at opposite sides thereof, the gripping devices having resilient jaws adapted to engage the line and the article to be supported thereon, and having reinforcing coils or springs for supplementing their gripping action, the device being composed of a single strip of material.

In the present instance, the line receiving portion of the device is formed by coiling the strip at a point midway of its length to form one or more convolutions 4, which are capable of being sprung apart or opened in a direction axially thereof to admit the line without the necessity of disconnecting the latter and threading it through the intermediate loop or coil, and when the line is so engaged, the device cannot become accidentally displaced from the line and lost. The ends of the convolution or coil are extended in opposite directions to form a pair of connecting arms 5 and 6 and they serve to support the line gripping devices which are composed, in the present instance, of clamps formed substantially in the shape of the letter W, that is to say, eachembodies a pair of cooperatively arranged grip ping jaws 7 and 8 formed intermediate the clamp and having a pair of outer arms 9 and 10, the several portions of each clamp lying substantially in the same plane and arranged at right angles to the respective connecting arms. The clamp is preferably composed of resilient material in order that the line engaging jaws may spread and obtain a hold on the line and it is preferable to supplement the clamping action of the gripping jaws by means of suitably arranged springs. The springs 11 and 12 shown in the present instance are of the helical type having their axes arranged substantially parallel to the plane of each clamp and having their opposite ends connected to the outer arms 9 and 10 thereof, the tension of each spring normally operating to proximate the line engaging jaws 7 and 8 of each clamp.

In the present form of the invention, the clamps and the supplemental spring are formed integrally with the remainder of the device, the outer ends of the respective connecting rods 5 and 6 being doubled, as at 13, and then coiled to form the springs, any suitable number of convolutions being employed, as may be desired, the end of the spring opposite the loop 13 being formed into a loop 14, the latter serving to connect the spring to the outer arm 10 of the clamp. The clamp is formed by folding the strip of material on itself and alternately in opposite directions, the upper free end of the outer arm 9 extending through the loop 13 and provided with a rounded end or loop 15, the rounded ends 14 and 15 preventing the gripping members or clamps catching on the articles to be fastened, and the convolutions of the springs serving to prevent the clamping member of one pin from becoming entangled with that of another pin.

In applying the pin, the line, together with the object to be fastened in position, is introduced between two adjacent convolutions of one of the springs, and forced between the cooperatively arranged gripping jaws 7 and 8 of the clamp, the resiliency of the latter and the tension of the spring serving to firmly grip the line and the article thereon.

A clothes-pin or clamping device of the character described may be cheaply manufactured of a single piece of wire, or the like, and, in practice, it is capable of being readily applied to a clothes-line or other object, its construction being such that it is capable of obtaining a firm hold thereon that will prevent its displacement and loss, and it is adapted to engage the line either from the top or bottom or either side thereof, the gripping action of the pin serving to hold it in place. Moreover, by coiling the springs between the arms of the respective clamping members, these parts are held in cooperative relation so that they cannot get out of order.

What is claimed is:

1. In a device of the character described, the combina tion with a clamp composed of a strip of resilient material having its intermediate portion doubled to form a pair of the strip being doubled toward the outer sides of the grip ping jaws, of a helical spring having its ends connected to the free ends of the outer arms of the clamp and having its convolutions arranged on each side of the doubled portions of the clamp.

2. A device of the character described composed of a single strip of resilient material having its intermediate portion coiled to form a line receiving portion, the ends of the coil extending in opposite directions to form a pail of clamp connecting arms, the end of each connecting arm being doubledto form a loop and thence coiled to form a helical spring, the free end of the latter being doubled in a direction diametrically of the spring to form a clamp, the free end of the latter engaging the said 1001) In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto atfixed my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

JOSEPH WESLEY LEWIS.

Witnesses L. W. LITTLE, J. T. BARNARD. 

